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Bar Refaeli. Not welcome in Egypt?
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Bar Refaeli comment irks Egyptians

Cairo newspaper says Israeli supermodel's description of Egypt as 'a primitive place' is part of Israel's efforts to harm Sinai tourism

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has managed to get in trouble with the Egyptians. Refaeli visited Egypt about two weeks ago with her boyfriend, Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Asked by Israeli reporters whether she would ever go back there, she replied that "Egypt is a very primitive place".

 

On Monday, Egyptian newspaper al-Dustur published a harsh editorial against Refaeli, claiming that her remarks were part of an Israeli attack on tourism to Egypt. The article was titled: "An Israeli plan to harm Egyptian tourism through a supermodel."

 

According to the paper, the Israelis are doing everything in their power to attract tourists from Sinai's beaches to Eilat and Haifa.

 

"It's part of Israel's constant efforts to attack tourism in Sinai in a bid to make the tourists move from the Egyptian beaches to the Israeli beaches. The Israeli press has taken advantage of the shark attacks on European tourists off the Sharm coast in order to convey in different languages the fear of the tourists visiting Egypt," the article claimed.

 

In the same context, another Egyptian paper presented a conspiracy theory that the Israeli secret service Mossad released the killer shark near Sharm el-Sheikh.

 

Egyptian diplomats are angry with the Israeli model as well, and have expressed their outrage over her comments, which they say have been quoted all over the world, causing damage to Egyptian tourism.

 

An Israeli diplomat told his Egyptian colleague in response, "Unfortunately, we have no control over Bar Refaeli and her mouth. The remark she made was definitely out of place."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.10.10, 08:35
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